Perception
by TheOriginalSnakeEyes
Summary: Slade, the morning after The End


Disclaimer: If I owned Teen Titans or rather, DC comics, you would know. Essentially it would be all about Batman.

Author's Notes: Hard to believe I'm actually getting off my butt to write a TT story. Oh, just for reference and since I am not sure if it has been mentioned in the cartoon or not, but 'Slade' Wilson a.k.a. Deathstroke the Terminator is capable of using ninety percent of his brains capacity as opposed to the normal human ceiling of ten. Finally, this takes place the morning after Trigons 'death' at the hands of White Raven.

Perception

They all thought…I knew. Some say pride is foolish, I know this, some say pride cometh before the fall, this I know as well. I am arrogant, and am guilty of many of the seven celebrated sins. Pride however is not one of them. I knew, I knew right from the beginning, right from a certain point in time, how events would shape and coalesce into something closely resembling this.

_"Trigon."_ That arrogant bastard, how pathetic, being felled by one its own offspring. I'd almost laugh at that fact, if it were not even more hilarious that with chaotic regularity those five cause others to snatch defeat at the jaws of victory.

From an apparent hell, this world is back to what it was? As if it never happened? Ah, people are so willing to forget. But I suppose I can remember, amongst other things with the knowledge I have gained. I know, I see, I can look around and remember with near perfect vision what the world looked like for such a brief time. Obviously me being a sizable cause of said change is a valid support for that. Looking back, it was quite foolish to have let it get that far…but I am just a man, correct?

It is almost tragically ironic, I have been returned to this world, a forced rebirth, so similar to the biblical figure Christ. Yet unlike that character I have less than what I began with. My home is in ruins, my troops scattered to the wind if not destroyed, and my enemies, a bit winded perhaps, but for the most part more than able to oppose me. It has all been restarted and I felt from the beginning that this was an eventuality, or rather, **the** eventuality that would come. What comes as a joke is that Trigon in all his supposed infinite knowledge saw none of this. And why should he? It was all far past his nose.

_"Robin."_ You disappointed me so Robin, so many opportunities for you to finally end me. Hell, the job was half done for you! And yet you put the life of some angst ridden living doorway ahead of what could have saved you and yours in the future? I suppose despite the capacities of my understanding…there will always just be certain factors I cannot understand. Of course your flaws in tactical understanding are in sense what saved me, so if I was a religious man I should be thankful. But as I have learned religion is something a person can pick up and put down, nothing more. With enough mind people can create their own Lords, but I digress.

Regaining my life, regaining a measure of my understanding and perhaps a few scraps of what Trigon haphazardly left, glimpses of possibilities were open to me. Robin, the paths we have are interconnected, weaving and bobbing. There is however an end in sight, from what can be seen the victor is almost inconsequential. I mean, I defeated Batman and he continues for whatever reason he fights.

Probably at this point, those Titans are celebrating their victory, their almost rabbit out a hat win against Trigon. It bothers me. Do those five continue to fight and win their battles purely out of chaotic chance? Is it possible there is something beyond my perception operating just under the surface? Simply frightening, and problematic. On this planet, I have no human equal, with Robins mentor as a possible exception and in the future maybe Robin as well. Even from death I have snatched a victory, starting from nothing I must build, and quickly. Operating from a throne of misinformation and thousands of fall out soldiers suits me better than bare survival than those surprisingly numerous who want me dead.

_"From her betrayal, I then knew. Terra."_ Was it because you were so young? A girl, not quite a woman? Damn, loathe I am to admit it perhaps apprenticeships were a mistake. They never seem to work out for me. Did I fear death? Maybe a flash or two, from some scolding a parent or some random guardian told me or didn't in my formative years. But…but upon remembering that life and death are merely immutable abstracts, that offered comfort, or something close at least.

_"From here, where?"_ from nothing, from ashes I must rise as cliché as that sounds. It is not because this is all I know, it is simply all I want. To be on top, to be supreme and leave a legacy that will transcend time and memory is the one lofty and significant goal I can't, I won't scoff at. It is a goal that is worthy of me, or rather the me I continually strive to evolve into.

I can see that tower now, and I am surprised that no one has thought of this before. One relic I was able to extract from the ruins of my old base. An old fashioned shoulder mount, one or two shots at most. Most buildings only need one; my various stints in the Middle East are proof of that. Too elated from their victory to even bother checking any proximity sensors, ha, I can actually picture what those five are doing, who's cooking, who's talking, and who's secretly pining for whom. I can picture it even better through the old scope.

A few seconds, a few more, time finally elapses into a minute. Before I know it the shoulder mount is down by my leg by its strap.

"Damn, maybe I **am** too arrogant." Walking away, I can't help but smile a smile that no one can see and whistle a tune no one would expect.

_"When there's trouble, you know who to call…" _Yeah, I knew.

-End

Well, what did you think? Good? Bad? Let me know for my sanity! Heh, hope you enjoyed.


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